Unpredictable moves

ZMP, in tandem with Tokyo University , has taken the original ¥108,800 (£452) Miuro and added chaotic itinerancy algorithms to enable it to interpret music and spontaneously generate a 'dance' of sorts that is entirely unpredictable.

Although free-form dance may seem like a trivial pursuit, especially for a glorified iPod dock, the research team believes that principle could result in future robots that can work things out for themselves a lot more effectively than is possible now.